Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Techno-economic optimization of a process superstructure for lignin valorization

Robinson, Ada Josefina ; Giuliano, Aristide ; Abdelaziz, Omar Y. LU ; Hulteberg, Christian P. LU orcid ; Koutinas, Apostolis ; Triantafyllidis, Konstantinos S. ; Barletta, Diego and De Bari, Isabella (2022) In Bioresource Technology 364.
Abstract

Lignin, the most abundant aromatic biopolymer on Earth, is often considered a biorefinery by-product, despite its potential to be valorized into high-added-value chemicals and fuels. In this work, an integrated superstructure-based optimization model was set up and optimized using mixed-integer non-linear programming for the conversion of technical lignin to three main biobased products: aromatic monomers, phenol–formaldehyde resins, and aromatic aldehydes/acids. Several alternative conversion pathways were simultaneously compared to assess the profitability of lignins-based processes by predicting the performance of technologies with different TRL. Upon employing key technologies such as hydrothermal liquefaction, dissolution in... (More)

Lignin, the most abundant aromatic biopolymer on Earth, is often considered a biorefinery by-product, despite its potential to be valorized into high-added-value chemicals and fuels. In this work, an integrated superstructure-based optimization model was set up and optimized using mixed-integer non-linear programming for the conversion of technical lignin to three main biobased products: aromatic monomers, phenol–formaldehyde resins, and aromatic aldehydes/acids. Several alternative conversion pathways were simultaneously compared to assess the profitability of lignins-based processes by predicting the performance of technologies with different TRL. Upon employing key technologies such as hydrothermal liquefaction, dissolution in solvent, or high-temperature electrolysis, the technical lignins could have a market value of 200 €/t when the market price for aromatic monomers, resins, and vanillin is at least 2.0, 0.8, and 15.0 €/kg, respectively. When lower product selling prices were considered, the aromatic monomers and the resins were not profitable as target products.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Aromatic monomers, Biorefinery, Lignin valorization, Modelling, Phenolic resins, Process optimization, Vanillin
in
Bioresource Technology
volume
364
article number
128004
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:36162782
  • scopus:85139320024
ISSN
0960-8524
DOI
10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128004
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d4553574-5440-4ce4-8e0a-f274d74d511f
date added to LUP
2022-12-09 15:33:08
date last changed
2024-06-14 15:41:09
@article{d4553574-5440-4ce4-8e0a-f274d74d511f,
  abstract     = {{<p>Lignin, the most abundant aromatic biopolymer on Earth, is often considered a biorefinery by-product, despite its potential to be valorized into high-added-value chemicals and fuels. In this work, an integrated superstructure-based optimization model was set up and optimized using mixed-integer non-linear programming for the conversion of technical lignin to three main biobased products: aromatic monomers, phenol–formaldehyde resins, and aromatic aldehydes/acids. Several alternative conversion pathways were simultaneously compared to assess the profitability of lignins-based processes by predicting the performance of technologies with different TRL. Upon employing key technologies such as hydrothermal liquefaction, dissolution in solvent, or high-temperature electrolysis, the technical lignins could have a market value of 200 €/t when the market price for aromatic monomers, resins, and vanillin is at least 2.0, 0.8, and 15.0 €/kg, respectively. When lower product selling prices were considered, the aromatic monomers and the resins were not profitable as target products.</p>}},
  author       = {{Robinson, Ada Josefina and Giuliano, Aristide and Abdelaziz, Omar Y. and Hulteberg, Christian P. and Koutinas, Apostolis and Triantafyllidis, Konstantinos S. and Barletta, Diego and De Bari, Isabella}},
  issn         = {{0960-8524}},
  keywords     = {{Aromatic monomers; Biorefinery; Lignin valorization; Modelling; Phenolic resins; Process optimization; Vanillin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Bioresource Technology}},
  title        = {{Techno-economic optimization of a process superstructure for lignin valorization}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128004}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128004}},
  volume       = {{364}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}